The Human Brain

Telepathy — Are You Receiving Me?

Yes I know you know what I’m going to write next and I know you probably think it’s a load of crap. Is telepathy real or quackery? What’s the evidence? Tune in and collect my thoughts…

Am I wacky?

Well, I could be, after all I live on a boat with a woman (First Mate). But I’m a rational person, trained in the scientific method with undergrad and Masters degrees in Physics.

For many physicists, telepathy is out there on the border of quackery. Or even across the border.

But if I’ve learned anything over my lifetime it is that one should not have a closed mind. So much science fiction has come to pass.

So, here’s a brief meandering through the topic of telepathy.

Observe, measure, theorise, test

And I’ve been observing over the years. If you follow me you probably know that the First Mate and I are crossword fans. Fans, not addicts. Breakfast solvers.

As the years have passed I’ve noticed an increasing tendency for us both to arrive simultaneously at the solution to a crossword clue. We’ve blurted out the answer together. It happens maybe once a week.

Now, those sceptical of the idea of telepathy will say that what has happened is that one of us has started speaking the answer and the other’s brain has latched on subconsciously, realised the answer and then the conscious mind has awakened to it. A perfectly reasonable explanation.

So, what I do now is, when I have an answer, I wait to see if the First Mate picks up on my thought. That’s the ‘test’ part.

I’m still collecting data — i.e. test results.

Inconclusive so far.

What exactly is telepathy?

Telepathy is the ability to communicate mentally with another person without using any of our known senses. It’s been around as a concept for centuries, but has only been studied scientifically in recent times.

Telepathy (from the Greek τῆλε, tele meaning “distant” and πάθος/-πάθεια, pathos or -patheia meaning “feeling, perception, passion, affliction, experience”) is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person’s mind to another’s without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. — Wikipedia

There are two types of telepathy: receptive and projective. Receptive telepathy is when a person can read the thoughts of others (!) Projective telepathy is when a person sends thoughts to another person (!!!)

That doesn’t quite sound like me and the First Mate. It sounds too deliberate. Our communication on crossword clues is not planned, it’s accidental, however it occurs.

Apparently the first recorded use of telepathy was in Aesop’s fable “The Ass in Lion’s Skin.” The ass has a hard time convincing its master that it is really him. Eventually they both realise they are inside each other’s heads.

Dissociative identity disorder, previously known as multiple personality disorder, is a mental disorder characterized by the maintenance of at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states.

I’ll say it again: That doesn’t quite sound like me and the First Mate! She’s a real person. I think.

Related phenomena

Remote sensing: I don’t mean this is the way that NASA does, for example measuring the temperatures around Uranus (after a curry? Sorry, irresistible). In the context of telepathy it means the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object i.e. the strict definition of the word ‘clairvoyance’. I’ll write about this later in a separate story if I can see my way clear to finding the time.

Testing Evidence

Zener Cards

Zener cards are a deck of 25 cards, each with a different symbol (5 circles, 5 crosses, and 15 wavy lines). They were created by parapsychologist Karl Zener in the early 1930s as part of experiments into telepathy.

The idea behind using zener cards is that one person (the sender) looks at a card while another person (the receiver) tries to guess what the symbol is. The results can be used to measure how good someone’s telepathic ability is, if it exists at all.

Governments get involved

There have been various tests conducted by both the US and Russian governments to see if telepathy is a real phenomenon. That means that it is measurable and experiments are reproducible. I couldn’t find any information about their test methodology.

The government experiments were driven by a need to find a way of communicating with nuclear submarines which could be underwater for months at a time. In the event that communication challenge was solved by using VLF radio.

It brings to mind the quote by Arthur C Clarke:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic

Aside: The US and Russia also researched remote sensing with the idea of a person reading a sequence of cards which could encode a message.

Of course, if governments really did confirm telepathy, would they tell us? No way, they’d be reading our minds, telling the tax people how much money we had under our mattresses.

Other test approaches

There are also various experiments that have been conducted using technology such as EEGs and MRI scanners, which have shown some interesting results.

Results

Whether Zener Cards or Government labs, the results of the tests have been mixed, with some experiments showing positive results and others showing no effect. And some showing cheating. So what’s new?

However, it’s always been the case that the ability (if it exists) is not general in the population but only ‘apparent’ in a very small number of people. Undoubtedly, that would make testing more difficult as suitable subjects would be hard to find.

Overall, the evidence for telepathy is still inconclusive. Further research is needed to determine its extent and how it works — if at all.

So far I’ve received nothing from the First Mate about 6 across:

Religious woman eaten by fish: odd dilemma (9 letters)

And my theory is…

No theory.

But my thinking is founded on the ‘open mind’ approach. Think back 160 years. It was James Clerk Maxwell who developed the equations of electromagnetism that provide a mathematical model for electric, optical, and radio technologies, such as power generation, electric motors, wireless communication, lenses, radar and so on.

We could see light and experience magnetic attraction but until then there was no real theory until Maxwell tied it all together with his equations.

Then along came Einstein. It’s taken many years for his idea of gravitational waves to have been proven, but they have now been detected by the LIGO observatory. Observing them is at the very limit of physics experimentation.

Add to that the weak and strong nuclear forces and we have the four fundamental forces of the universe.

Some scientists speculate that there is a fifth fundamental force, weaker than electromagnetism or the nuclear forces.

And we still cannot explain Dark Matter and Dark Energy.

So, what do we not know?

I can’t resist it, sorry.

Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones. — Donald Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defense, 2002.

But you knew I was going to include that, didn’t you. That was a known for you, you read my mind.

Yes, there are still things we do not know, perhaps spectra that we are not yet able to measure, spectra that enable some human brains to communicate subconsciously. Whatever it is (if it is) is a weak effect and currently defies measurement.

My mind remains open, receptive to comments and the solution to 6 across.

Telepathically only, please. To me and not to the First Mate.

All transmissions answered, but only if you’re on my wavelength.

About me: If you follow me I guarantee variety in your inbox! I write on a wide range of topics including humor, tech and travel, together with daily news events and the minutiae of my daily life living on a boat. I also write techno-thrillers…and about…

…sub-ethereal interpersonal communication

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If you got this far then well done!

Religious woman eaten by fish: odd dilemma (9 letters)

The answer is ‘conundrum’: ‘nun’ eaten by ‘cod’ + ‘rum’ for odd.

Still no telepathy from the First Mate.